Artwork details

AcquisitionPurchased with funds provided by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery 2005

Reference

T12018

Not on display

Summary

This work is one of eight preparatory drawings (Tate T12011-T12018) related to Weiner’s installation SPHERES OF INFLUENCE 1991. The installation comprises five statement works (Tate T12006-T12010) and two related open edition posters (Tate P20269-P20270).

Weiner’s work has always been characterised both by its conceptual nature and by the graphic quality of its pictorial manifestations. He is best known for his ‘statement’ works which exist as language with the potential to be displayed or acted out. The flexibility of presentation suggests an egalitarian approach to art making. However the distinctive style of Weiner’s statement works owes a great deal to his aesthetic approach, which has had a pronounced influence on contemporary graphic design and typography. Throughout his career the artist has produced works on paper including posters, drawings and books.

These drawings exemplify aspects of the artist’s precise visual style. The motif of crossed lines bisecting an ovoid form recurs in all the SPHERES OF INFLUENCE drawings as well as the related posters. This diagrammatic form suggests a point of convergence in the crossed paths of the parallel lines, with the ovoid shapes expressing the parameters of the ‘spheres of influence’ of the title. The artist has described how he traced ordinary household objects including jars to make some of the curvilinear forms in these works (conversation with the artist, 17 October 2005).

This drawing is unique in the series in that it features only one ‘sphere of influence’ motif. This form extends from the centre left of the image. The rectangle formed by the intersecting lines is blue, with the portions of the crossing lines within the oval are grey. A curved line extends from the blue rectangle to the handwritten and encircled words ‘SPHERE OF INFLUENCE’. At the bottom of the image two parallel blue rectangles form an equal sign, linking the typewritten phrases ‘CRUDE (MORE BRUTAL) / WELDING’ and ‘SPILLAGE (IN FACT MORE / AREA COVERED) / EXPANSION’.